myMA
This week as part of their agriculture unit, Mr. Gutgold's '10 World History I class made Inca record-keeping devices called quipus.
Officials in the Incan Empire used quipus to store numbers related to farming, taxes, and other tasks related to colonial administration. By tying knots in different ways to signify different numbers, the Incas maintained extensive records on their domains without traditional writing.
Ninth-graders made their own small quipus by learning to tie three different kinds of knots. This helped further their study of the Agricultural Revolution and the ways in which new developments in farming spurred larger changes in the non-material culture of different peoples.
